The Soviet Influence: Volume Two: Battleship Potemkin + Drifters

The second in the BFI’s series exploring the influence of silent Soviet classics on British filmmakers of the 1930s. This edition presents one of the classics of world cinema, Sergei Eisentein’s 1929 Battleship Potemkin, in High Definition for the first time in the UK, and accompanies it with the world premiere High Definition release of John Grierson’s ground-breaking 1929 documentary Drifters.

Drifters premiered at the Film Society on November 10, 1929, on the same bill as Battleship Potemkin, which was receiving its British premiere. Grierson had previously produced an English language version of Eisenstein’s film for its American screening and the influence of Eisenstein is clearly revealed in Drifters.

Battleship Potemkin has appeared in every Sight and Sound film poll since 1952 and, in 2010 Empire Magazine voted it the 3rd greatest World Cinema film of all time. Drifters is presented with an all-new score composed by the talented young British musician Jason Singh.